I wish Hyoseop cried more, I think he needs it.

Reading some of the older comments has made me realize that there really are people who should never be trusted to socialize with adolescents who have been groomed. The blame on MC is, not gonna lie, awful.

Hyoseop was groomed. If you're one of the people who kept dragging on how naive, gullible, and stupid he is, maybe try living being a caged human battery slave in your childhood - specifically puberty, a great significant part of your life for emotional and psychological development - let's see if you don't live absolutely brain dead afterwards. This kind of blueprint creates adolescents who are full of fear and disdain or absolutely full of hate and aggression, hyoseop is the former (avoidant personality type, anxious type, people pleaser and all that). He is a textbook groomed victim.

Imagine, your entire life is a lie and a tragedy. Your parents died and you were then sheltered in a monastery that was supposed to keep you safe, instead, it was just a disguise and the monastery was a human trafficking den. Every single good memory you may have built in your childhood is absolutely ruined. Every single decision you thought that made you independent only snowballed into your ultimate demise. Nothing went right.

Not to mention, the firsthand experiences being bonded against his will, being the object of someone's obsession (and that someone was a person of great power physically and psychologically over him). And the one person who looked out for him and urged him to escape, the only one who opened his eyes to how twisted the entire situation is, died before him. Died all because that good man had to do a good deed to Him, Hyoseop, the pitiful kid. Hyoseop, who has had a streak of being the scapegoat of everyone's incompetency, will immediately believe he is the sole reason of that good guy's death.

The one time that something went right, Hyoseop witnessed that good man's death before his eyes. I don't think a person who has lived that kind of life would ever trust himself or believe he's worth being loved. I mean, if you had enough self respect, he wouldn't have tolerated how Andante treats him.

"I don't want any esper to die (I feel responsible for other people's lives even if I am not exactly involved)"

"I trust him (he needs me, I want to keep fulfilling his expectation)'

Hyoseop is just comforting himself with the tiny hope the guild will warm up to him, or at least that Andante gets to see him beyond as a guide. He thinks so awfully low of himself, he feels his only worth is to fulfill his end of the deal and and go beyond it without asking much for return.

I usually am all for the smug and mischievous Blondies - Sung Hyunjae from S-Class is a top-tier smug blonde for example - but Andante is particularly... uncomfortable? You get angry that Hyoseop misunderstood you? Who was it that started hiding things? Who was it that never informed about new possibilities and plans? Who was it that never had Hyoseop in the loop? Andante seems so pressed on his desire over Hyoseop, you would think there was the effort to actually have Hyoseop as an equal individual in his life, not some prize token or trophy. Hyoseop's actions is a consequence of Andante's lack of trust on Hyoseop, other than that, the lack of even respecting Hyoseop as a member of the guild and as a guide.

In my honest opinion, there's a difference with Hyoseop hiding the mating bond mark from Andante hiding his long lost brother in an SS Class dungeon. Hyoseop revealing his bonded mark won't kill him, but Andante not revealing it could literally lead to Andante's death and Hyoseop wouldn't even know. There is just a great disparity on the burdens both people carry.

Andante just doesn't hit the right spots. He acts similar to the template smug blondes, but his decision making is completely different. The way he thinks and works is what puts me off. If I had to work with someone like him, I'd honestly resign or ask to be transferred to a different team to save myself the trouble of overthinking. Imagine, you're working as a team and the team lead themselves doesn't keep you in the loop? Yeah, I'd be pissed as hell.

Not to mention, Hyoseop hasn't even resolved his trauma. He's just burying it all and letting time make the pain more tolerable to acknowledge.

I also wanted to add one last point. It doesn't matter whether Hyoseop misunderstood Ano being Andante's lover or whatever, the fact that the entire guild felt and looked complete with Ano was enough information for Hyoseop to draw a conclusion he never had space in their little found family. And even if the guild did have space for Hyoseop, someone who never belonged anywhere will not understand it. It isn't a simple 'Andante is throwing me aside' instead it's, 'I have no worth to the people in this place, anywhere here.'

Anyways, overall, it's a great story. Pacing is pretty good. I like the dynamics between characters. Although because there's quite a lot of characters their relationships feel underdeveloped aside from Hyoseop and Andante. Considering that Andante has already achieved the SS Class Dungeon, and the famed Chasing Arc is going to start soon, we'll see a lot more character development and relationship progress between characters which I'm pretty excited about!

It's been over 60+ chapters but it feels like Hyoseop has no real connections here. Like he's a third party or an outsider of his own story. I don't know if anyone has got that feeling where you're reading from an outsider's perspective. As if you're watching a car crash you can't fear your eyes from. That's why I'm looking forward to (many more misunderstandings) and Hyoseop's development and how he'll even patch the broken trust in his relationship with Andante.

I also wonder how Andante would react to Hyoseop's past? I'm really curious.